The Madness of King George
It’s easy to forget just how normal the madness looked back then. By 2009, when I arrived in Iraq, we were already at the last-gasp moment when it came to salvaging something from what may yet be seen as the single worst foreign policy decision in American history. It was then that, as a State Department officer assigned to lead two provincial reconstruction teams in eastern Iraq, I first walked into the chicken processing plant in the middle of nowhere.
By then, the U.S. “reconstruction” plan for that country was drowning in rivers of money foolishly spent. As the centerpiece for those American efforts -- at least after Plan A, that our invading troops would be greeted with flowers and sweets as liberators, crashed and burned -- we had managed to reconstruct nothing of significance. First conceived as a Marshall Plan for the New American Century, six long years later it had devolved into farce.
In my act of the play, the U.S. spent some $2.2 million dollars to build a huge facility in the boondocks. Ignoring the stark reality that Iraqis had raised and sold chickens locally for some 2,000 years, the U.S. decided to finance the construction of a central processing facility, have the Iraqis running the plant purchase local chickens, pluck them and slice them up with complex machinery brought in from Chicago, package the breasts and wings in plastic wrap, and then truck it all to local grocery stores. Perhaps it was the desert heat, but this made sense at the time, and the plan was supported by the Army, the State Department, and the White House.
Elegant in conception, at least to us, it failed to account for a few simple things, like a lack of regular electricity, or logistics systems to bring the chickens to and from the plant, or working capital, or... um... grocery stores. As a result, the gleaming $2.2 million plant processed no chickens. To use a few of the catchwords of that moment, it transformed nothing, empowered no one, stabilized and economically uplifted not a single Iraqi. It just sat there empty, dark, and unused in the middle of the desert. Like the chickens, we were plucked.

I'm not really wanting a bash bush thread. We've had fun with that for years and will continue. It's the article that boils my blood. Why are not people held accountable. Whoever dreamed up this "madness" should be on the hook/JAIL for millions of a really stupid plan. It says the Army, State Dept and White House (not directly at Bush but others surely). And sure as a result of an election a bunch of those folks are no longer employed. But I'd be willing to bet there are some still around. Why can't we have the media give an accounting of whose dumb idea this was so that can be publicly pilloried.

"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now!""
- Friedrich Nietzsche

"It does not require a majority to prevail,but rather an irate,tireless minority keen to set brushfires in peoples minds" Sam Adams

Posted 08 March 2013 - 11:50 PM

ninjadude, on 08 March 2013 - 11:08 PM, said:

I'm not really wanting a bash bush thread. We've had fun with that for years and will continue. It's the article that boils my blood. Why are not people held accountable. Whoever dreamed up this "madness" should be on the hook/JAIL for millions of a really stupid plan. It says the Army, State Dept and White House (not directly at Bush but others surely). And sure as a result of an election a bunch of those folks are no longer employed. But I'd be willing to bet there are some still around. Why can't we have the media give an accounting of whose dumb idea this was so that can be publicly pilloried.

In a way i think we can finally agree on something ninja.How come these idiots from former and current administrations can get away with anything!They constantly break any and every law we have on the books in our country,yet being in public office somehow excludes them from ever being held responsible!We the people have sat back and let these people who are supposed to work for us become our rulers instead of our leaders.The media is backed by and owned by the very people who really have a say so in which candidates will run for office.They will never be allowed to turn in these former or current officials because it would cause to much of the public to scrutinize the type of people we keep putting in positions of power to run this country.PURE IDIOTS!!!

"If it is not advantageous,do not move.If objectives can not be attained,do not employ the army.Unless endangered do not engage in warfare.The ruler cannot mobilize the army out of personal anger.The general can not engage in battle because of personal frustration.When it is advantageous,move;when not advantageous,stop.Anger can revert to happiness,annoyance can revert to joy,but a vanquished state cannot be revived,the dead cannot be brought back to life." Sun-Tzu

George will be a scapegoat for the left for all eternity.... what a waste of time and effort...

Nah, he'll just be the scapegoat until the next bloke from the Republicans gets the job.
Then it'll always be their fault.

I must not fear. Fear is the Mind-Killer. It is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and to move through me. And when it is gone I will turn the inner eye to see it's path.
When the fear is gone, there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.

All the billions and trillions of dollars wasted we are always crowing about and ninja tells us it's a pittance, pocket change, no sweat.
He discovers Bush may have had a hand in a two million dollar chicken plant and it's the madness of king George. What is going on?

"It does not require a majority to prevail,but rather an irate,tireless minority keen to set brushfires in peoples minds" Sam Adams

Posted 09 March 2013 - 03:28 PM

-Mr_Fess-, on 09 March 2013 - 03:19 PM, said:

All the billions and trillions of dollars wasted we are always crowing about and ninja tells us it's a pittance, pocket change, no sweat.
He discovers Bush may have had a hand in a two million dollar chicken plant and it's the madness of king George. What is going on?

"If it is not advantageous,do not move.If objectives can not be attained,do not employ the army.Unless endangered do not engage in warfare.The ruler cannot mobilize the army out of personal anger.The general can not engage in battle because of personal frustration.When it is advantageous,move;when not advantageous,stop.Anger can revert to happiness,annoyance can revert to joy,but a vanquished state cannot be revived,the dead cannot be brought back to life." Sun-Tzu

All the billions and trillions of dollars wasted we are always crowing about and ninja tells us it's a pittance, pocket change, no sweat.
He discovers Bush may have had a hand in a two million dollar chicken plant and it's the madness of king George. What is going on?

yep something like 6 billion in Iraq went straight into graft. And that's not even part of what the article talks about. You guys whine about a few thousand in salaries and a few millions that go to real foreign aid.

"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now!""
- Friedrich Nietzsche

yep something like 6 billion in Iraq went straight into graft. And that's not even part of what the article talks about. You guys whine about a few thousand in salaries and a few millions that go to real foreign aid.

What's a graft? Who whines about salaries? Thought that was your ilk. And yes, most foreign aid is absurd. This chicken plant thing, I don't get it or what you're really talking about. Ok, the Iraq war and the madness of king George I might get. A two Illinois dollar chicken plant and the madness of king George, I don't. What the hell are you talking about? What's your point?